


better and well

by loosingletters



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Death Star, Gen, Humor, One Shot, Sorry this is More Plot and Less Parody than I intended, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:34:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26484256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loosingletters/pseuds/loosingletters
Summary: Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi gets displaced in time and, to Darth Vader’s delight, decides the Death Star sucks. There might be some treason involved.“So, just to recapitulate, the Emperor-“ Obi-Wan’s face scrunched up in disgust, an expression Vader thought was quite appropriate for this situation, “decided to build a weapon that can blow up entire planets, named it Death Star and decided that was a job well done?”
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader
Comments: 56
Kudos: 703





	better and well

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Himboskywalker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Himboskywalker/gifts).



> I saw that [a post](https://himboskywalker.tumblr.com/post/629285525835202560/au-where-padawan-obi-wan-gets-yeeted-forward-in) from Himbosykwalker about Padawan Obi-Wan meeting Darth Vader and this happened. Enjoy!

After over a decade at Obi-Wan Kenobi’s side, spending more time with him than in his absence, Vader had thought he had known the man better than anybody else. And perhaps, indeed, he had, but as the Sith had come to know in the past weeks, _better_ didn’t equal _well_.

He didn’t have any significant memories of his former Master as a Padawan. The time he had spent with him before Qui-Gon’s death had been short and Kenobi hadn’t paid much attention to him. Afterward, Vader had only known him as his new Master, an authority to respect if he didn’t want to earn his ire, or worse, his disappointment.

He had appeared so aloof, as the perfect Jedi with not a single flaw.

Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, on the other hand, was not this perfect Jedi yet, this embodiment of a faulty code. He had, apparently, a slightly bigger disregard for rules than Vader had assumed possible and, on top of that, smoked Death Sticks. For fun, just to relax a little sometimes. He had admitted so while laughing just a touch nervously in a pitch Vader had never heard from his Master. It showed how painfully young this Obi-Wan still was, even at 22. If Vader hadn’t spent hours excessively researching the Sith artifact Obi-Wan had touched, he would have believed that the Padawan was not just from a different time, but also a different universe. He just behaved so differently, enough that Vader hadn’t immediately wanted to punish him for the betrayal of his future-self.

After the initial shock had worn off, Obi-Wan had acted surprisingly calmly about the Republic having turned into an Empire and the entirety of the Jedi having been wiped out. What had, however, displeased Obi-Wan, was how incredibly mindlessly Sidious had been ruling his Empire.

“So, just to recapitulate, the _Emperor_ -“ Obi-Wan’s face scrunched up in disgust, an expression Vader thought was quite appropriate for this situation, “decided to build a weapon that can blow up entire planets, named it _Death Star_ and decided that was a job well done?”

“Yes.”

Obi-Wan walked from one side of the room to the other. He ought to be in a prison cell or stuck somewhere deep on Mustafar where Sidious could never possibly find out about him, and yet Vader had kept Obi-Wan by his side. He had forced the young man to give up his Jedi robes, of course, he loathed to look at them and couldn’t very much keep a Jedi with him. Instead, he had left Obi-Wan the black leather uniform of the Inquisitors. The Padawan had put it on with only a few complaints about how tight it was compared to the loose Jedi robes and had scowled at the Imperial cog printed upon his sleeves, but otherwise, he had gone along just fine with Vader’s demands.

His lightsaber – another thing so very different from the Kenobi Vader remembered – hung from his belt and his Padawan braid had been neatly pulled back into the ponytail that held back the rest of his hair. Vader would have cut off the braid, if not for what that action would symbolize.

Obi-Wan didn’t look like a Jedi Padawan anymore. To every non-Force-sensitive, he would appear to be yet another Inquisitor assigned to watch Vader, spy on him for the Emperor and follow his orders at the same time. Should any other spy on his ship report Obi-Wan’s presence soon, Sidious would certainly be able to figure out Obi-Wan’s identity quickly, if he hadn’t already. The Emperor’s ability to sense even the slightest disturbance in the Force aided him well and there had not been a light as bright as Obi-Wan’s in a while. Vader doubted that he had ever been so untainted, even as a child.

It was annoying and yet, somehow, just a little endearing. Obi-Wan wasn’t as cracked as his older self, not as misused and wrongly trained.

“That’s just stupid,” Obi-Wan concluded. “That’s not how you rule an Empire, forcing every planet into submission or face extinction. The people will band together, they will rebel, and one singular weapon will not be enough to stop entire systems from going against Imperial control.”

Obi-Wan threw up his hands and shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Vader wasn’t entirely sure why he had told Obi-Wan of the Death Star. Perhaps only because he had been forced to attend yet another meeting about that foolish weapon everyone in the know sung praises about.

It felt good to have somebody who shared his opinion, even if it was his former Jedi Master, shrunken to a Padawan.

“How would you go about ruling an Empire then?” Vader asked, honestly interested.

His Master had criticized the flaws of the Republic often enough, even if in his weakness he had clung to its ideals. This younger Obi-Wan had already seen much of its rot, but when he talked about the Empire’s flaws, his ire was directed at Sidious first, the institution second.

“Well, I wouldn’t build a freaking Death Star in the first place,” Obi-Wan retorted, snark curled around his lips, not shy at all in speaking his mind.

The Padawan had been scared of Vader at first, terrified. Of course, he had been, he had still believed the Sith extinct and the Jedi to be the glorious victors instead of a decaying order built to fall. But after that fear had passed, Obi-Wan had never once hesitated to speak his mind. The one time Vader had asked him about it, Obi-Wan had only raised his brow at him, similar to the way his future self had.

“If you had wanted to kill or hurt me, you already would have,” he had said, and then went about checking the control panels to Vader’s suit, attempting to figure out how exactly they worked and how they might remove Sidious’s kill-switch on him.

Their alliance was a strange one. Obi-Wan had shown no interest in the dark side, but there was something to his roughness that Vader thought he might be able to make use of.

Obi-Wan already looked the part of a darksider, seeing him fall would be glorious.

Perhaps it wouldn’t take too much to convince him to join either. It wasn’t like he had anyone but Vader left in this time. There was nobody who could possibly understand him, nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide. He belonged entirely to Vader. For so long Vader had waited for somebody who wouldn’t dare to betray him because it would leave them off for worse.

Vader hadn’t been able to do anything about his Master, already so set in the ways of the Jedi, but this Obi-Wan might still be useful. Vader had been wanting to overthrow the Emperor for years already, having grown tired of being his slave, but he had always lacked the right kind of support.

“And after?” Vader asked. “How would you rule an Empire?”

“Well, I’d make the people loyal to me at first. Not out of fear or anything, though it is a good motivator, but because they see it as beneficial to be on my side. Fear leaves people hollow or angry, it only really works short time. And by now, the Empire also doesn’t offer much to anyone anywhere except for those in charge, does it?”

Obi-Wan finally sat down at the table. “I mean, Death Star. _Really_? Sidious could have just as well gone round and said ‘ _hello, yes, I don’t care about ruling, I just want power and the fancy title.’_ ”

Vader almost felt inclined to laugh. Obi-Wan’s imitation of the Emperor’s accent was spot on.

“Shame there is no way to just destroy that thing. That would certainly earn you enough credit with the people to rally behind you.”

It would indeed.

Vader let the air be forced in and out of his s lungs for few precious moments. He knew that the Death Star had a weakness. It had yet to be discovered by anyone else and so Vader had kept his mouth shut, but-

“What if there is a way to destroy it?”

Obi-Wan blinked a few times, then he grinned. “Well, I suppose then we should do something about that.”

_Useful, indeed._

**Author's Note:**

> Idk they destroy the Death Star, commit treason, possibly assassinate the Emperor and maybe somewhere along the line Vaderkin goes back to being Obi-Wan's #1 fan.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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